Chocolate Coconut Date Balls : Paleo, gluten free, sugar free, vegan, raw

I whipped these up yesterday and they're awesome!! Even my mom thinks so! So awesome and simple that I had to share even though I'm not a food blogger.

My recipe disclaimer:
I generally just throw things together and don't measure the ingredients out. These measurements are a safe guess as to how much I remember using while preparing them. You may need to adjust your amounts slightly for your personal taste.

1 cup dried dates
2 1/2 tbsp raw coca powder
1/4-1/2 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 tbsp coconut oil
1/8-1/4 cup pecan chunks
1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut


Soak dates in water for about an hour. Drain water. Chop up dates into a mushy pulp or use a food processor. Stir in salt coca and salt. This can take a bit to combine well. Warm coconut oil until just melted (you can do this with your hands too) then add in coconut oil. Add pecans.
Form into 1/2 inch balls. I made them small because they are rich and pack a punch in such a small size. (That's saying a lot for me because I can handle me some rich chocolate!)
Roll balls in the shredded coconut.
Store in the fridge because they can get a little melty.

Variations:
Whatever you want! You could use different nuts or even seeds instead, sprinkle with sea salt instead of coconut, the possibilities are endless!

Enjoy and Share!

Adventures in...apparently food porn

   Whew! I am exhausted. It's been a crazy, awesome, tiring, adventure and love filled few weeks. I kind of wish I would have written a better blog last week so I could half-ass this week's blog. But I cannot. So here I am, finally recovered from holiday awesomeness exhaustion and a bout with winter and life circumstance induced depression.

   I wanted this edition to be about holiday family awesomeness but it's not going to be...not too much anyway. I love my family and every time we get together, it's a lovely thing. It was announced that we have a new little one on his or her way to our growing extended family in June and we got to Skype with our missing family parts in Boston. There is always lots of love, laughter and genuine connection going on. A little more about that in the next blog, but first, a little food porn from our holiday feast...

   We'll start with my step-mom's most amazing rolls! Seriously these things are little, light, buttery chunks of heaven! It's not a difficult task to down 5 or 6 of them without thinking about it!

My goofy, younger brother mixing dough for the awesome, Austrian cookies he made, pictured below. (I know he's not food porn but still pretty good looking, aye ladies?!)

       Yes, they were as good as they look and no, they're not Paleo. That's ok, I get to indulge :)

And finally a slice of my almost Paleo pumpkin pie (I added milk) and homemade whipped cream sweetened with maple syrup.

     I just made an executive decision to stop this blog here and start another one about my winter depression. So I hope you enjoy the food porn, it's certainly fun taking the pictures. I try not to obsess about the photos to much. It doesn't hurt that I have a special app on my phone that makes it super easy to do!

Until we meet again friends...I'll be back soon!

Thanks for reading!

Birthday Adventure Awesomeness: sushi and live music

   Welp it's that time of year again...the time for my birthday adventures! This year I kicked off my day of birth with a phone call to both of my parents at 6:45 am, thanking them for my life. Then I made my video commitment for the next phase of Project: Action Heart!

    I typically start celebrating my birthday at the beginning of the month by treating myself to one small indulgence after another and by the end of the month I go out big with a table full of friends and obscene amounts of raw fish! This year was no different however, I decided to go less formal and go conveyor belt. There is a quality sacrifice that goes with the convenience of the belt but it was totally worth it!

    It is a dangerous thing to be sitting within inches of a constant rolling, flow of delicious and interesting looking food throughout your entire dining experience. I was a little overwhelmed at first but got the hang of it pretty quickly. Shoveling food into my mouth, while maintaining one eye on the belt for the next plate that couldn't be passed up, I consequently ate myself into a sushi-induced food coma.

                                   How could I not when the food looks like this?

   The best part of my birthday dinner is the amazing people that show up. I invite who I would like to eat with but never know exactly who will come until dinner time. It is always an absolute honor to dine with whomever shows up and I am always touched that these people would come celebrate my birthday with me!

This year's crowd! I love each and everyone of them! (my son is making that face again) I am so blessed to have such wonderful people in my life!

   I anticipated possible house guests so I made goodies only to not have anyone remain long enough to get them to eat them. Alas, the treats were left in my possession and I lived off them on all day Saturday. Riding the sugar wave is not the norm for me but....they were oh, so delicious! (Here comes the food porn!)

                                        Paleo pumpkin cheesecake anyone?

   How about some chocolate coffee caramel bars? (My Saturday's demise!)

   For my birthday weekend not only did I get to perform twice but I also managed to get in a trip to Seattle! Saturday night at the dive bar was probably my worst solo set in a while but still had a blast doing it and got to catch up a bit with some old friends.

                                                      Singing my heart out!

   Sunday night I got to play with my band Skitnik! Did I mention how much I love Skitnik? Cos I do!! It was a private party, in a lovely intimate setting where we were well received. And by well received I mean they danced and then they danced some more!!

                      We have so much fun with our ever evolving stage antics!

                                 

                                                    Heart!! (yes two Skitnik pics)

    A word about how grateful I am to be alive and to live my life today. There were several years of my life that I did not feel this way (I've been through quite a bit). I literally dreaded the very thought of waking in the morning. But that is no longer the case! I can honestly say that everyday (even when life sucks) I am so happy to be ALIVE, to get to experience all that the universe and the beings in it have to offer. I love that I have a path of love that I get to walk today and that I get to spread that around to those who are able to receive it! Life is an adventure my friends, take it on and own it!

Adventure Tip: Want to experience belt sushi in Bellingham? Head on down to KuruKuru Sushi. We had a large group that they were certainly willing to accommodate. I have no other conveyor belt sushi experience to compare this place to but I think just the fun of the the food rolling by is enough adventure in itself to check it out!